ATLANTA — WSB and parent company Cox Media Group are honoring the legacy of our late colleague and friend, anchor Jovita Moore, through a special scholarship for journalism students.
Channel 2’s Fred Blankenship spoke with this year’s winners.
“When I got that email that I received this scholarship, I literally ran downstairs to my mom screaming I was like ‘I got the Jovita Moore scholarship!’” Alyssia Hamilton said.
“Jovita Moore was at the backdrop of my childhood. And I think even more than just like hopefully waiting for school delays. And like the few times it’d snow, there was also just seeing her inform our communities, and it’s teaching me that I too could inform and educate our communities,” Aminah Gassama said.
“What it means for me, if I had to sum it up, it means that I’m on the right path. It means that I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing,” Bella May said.
“Please join me in congratulating our Jovita Moore Memorial Scholarship recipients,” said Marian Pittman, president of WSB-TV. “Their future is bright, we are so proud of them, and I know Jovita is smiling from above.”
In 2021, Moore passed away from an aggressive form of brain cancer.
She was passionate about mentoring students, so Cox Media Group created a scholarship in her name, supporting students studying broadcast journalism.
“She was somebody that I looked up to, not even knowing that I wanted to go into journalism at that time, but to know that I received a scholarship in her name is so surreal, an amazing feeling,” Hamilton said.
“It was something that, like, from a young age, I realized like just how significant and powerful journalism could be to help people just stay connected,” Gassama said
Bella May from Dallas was the inaugural scholarship winner, and this year, she’s won it again as a graduate student at New York University.
Blankenship first met May when she was a high school student on a visit to Channel 2.
“It’s full circle for me. Watching this station, touring the station in high school, winning this scholarship not once, but twice, it’s bigger than me. I don’t know, it’s like indescribable,” May said.
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